TURKS AND CAICOS VERSUS THE CARIBBEAN: THE WINNER IS…………

One of the best ways of improving a business is to take a careful look at your competitors. I was able to do just that recently, with a short visit to the Eastern Caribbean, where Jill and I saw in a few days holiday what sort of attractions St Maarten (Dutch), St Martin (French), Anguilla (like Turks and Caicos, a UK Overseas Territory), St. Kitts and Nevis, and very briefly Antigua are offering to American and European tourists.

The first thing I have to stress is that, even allowing for my inevitable bias towards our islands, none of the Leeward Islands have a stretch  of sea or sand which is a patch  on Grace Bay or Grand Turk. Anguilla’s beaches , and some of Antigua’s close to the Sandals resort, are wonderful, but they lack  the colour and clarity of Turks and Caicos. It’s a selling point which our resorts have skilfully maximised, and one we must preserve at all cost.

The other islands of course have their different attractions and advantages. The looming volcanos of St  Kitts and Nevis cannot fail to mesmerise visitors, even from a great distance, and Antigua’s English Harbour – which we returned to after some 30 years – must be one of the most attractive settings of any port globally.

Our Cruise Centre in Grand Turk  knocks spots off St. Maarten’s garish surrounds, although the food on the French side of the island certainly lives up to its reputation for quality and matches some of Providenciales many great choices.

Many of the Islands are  edging  ahead of us in one area: the use of alternative energy. A large bank of solar panels were in use near two of the airports, and street lighting was sourced from solar on another: a reminder that, although we are just beginning to see signs of solar taking off here, we are in danger of getting left behind if we don’t grip the issue. Hopefully the Carbon War Room initiative , to which TCIG signed up last year, will begin to show results, as will some private developments with Fortis.

Across all the Islands we visited, the stand-out issue in terms of tourism appeal, apart from the sea and the sand, was service. In some places it was very, very good, in others off the mark. The immigration and customs officials could not have been more friendly on arriving in both St Kitts and Antigua, and as a result  left a feeling they were countries to which  you would  like to return. But airline staff in St Maarten and Antigua had the reverse effect, in one case causing half a plane load of passengers to be delayed on arrival.

I came back in no doubt that Turks and Caicos Islands has one of the best offerings in the region. If our immigration, customs, airline, taxi and other key frontline staff can retain that warm  TCI welcome to our North American and, increasingly, European visitors we should be able to retain our lead for many years. But we must constantly remind ourselves we have competition on our doorstep.

Grace Bay Beach, Providenciales                   Front Street, Grand Turk